Electronic gaming devices, such as slot machines and video poker machines, generate the bulk of profits at most casinos. It is estimated that electronic gaming devices account for over $15 billion in revenue each year in the United States. Electronic gaming devices remain an attractive source of revenue because their low operating cost results in margins significantly higher than table games such as blackjack and craps.
Gaming machine profitability is directly related to such factors as the statistical house advantage offered by the machine, the amount of money wagered by players, and the rate at which the machine is played. In order to increase the profitability of these machines, many attempts have been made to augment one or more of these factors.
With regard to augmenting the house advantage, many gaming machines have been developed with higher-than-average house advantages. However, there are several drawbacks to this approach. First, many jurisdictions legislate minimum payback levels which, in turn, limit the amount by which the house advantage may be increased. Also, players tend to avoid machines that have a large house advantage, and will further avoid casinos which have an abundance of these machines. This is particularly true in those jurisdictions which require casinos to publish the house advantage tendered by their machines.
With regard to augmenting the amount of money wagered by players, gaming machines have been developed which require more money to be deposited in order to play them. Such "high stakes" slot machines require the deposit of $5.00 to $500.00 for each play. However, as the amount required to be wagered increases, fewer players are willing or able to play. This is because few players have sufficient finds to play "high stakes" machines. Thus, a casino can not increase the amount required to be wagered on a majority of its machines without negatively impacting the number of players willing to play at those machines.
In an attempt to augment the rate at which a machine is played by a player, some gaming machines have been developed which allow a player to operate the machine at faster rates of play. For example, in some slot machines, reel mechanisms have been designed to rotate quickly and stop within a few seconds, making them faster than prior slot machines. Such machines, however, operate faster only after a player has made a decision to play the game. They do not encourage a player to make the decision to play any faster. For instance, a player may wait for an interval after completion of a first game before initiating a second game. Thus, although the machine may complete a game in a shorter period of time, they do not necessarily increase profitability of the machine since players may delay their decision to play or to continue to play the machine.
Thus, a need exists for a system and method that encourages players to participate in a greater proportion of games to effectuate a faster rate of play.